Australia Day

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After weeks of pounding heat and hardly any rain (3 mm since before Christmas) last night we had one of those huge storms that dumped 33 mm of rain. It just kept raining for most of the night. There is water in the creek again, and you can almost watch the land greening up.

So here is my favourite Australian poem for Australia Day.

The love of field and coppice
Of green and shaded lanes,
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins.
Strong love of grey-blue distance,
Brown streams and soft, dim skies
I know, but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror
The wide brown land for me!

The stark white ring-barked forests,
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon,
Green tangle of the brushes
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops,
And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When, sick at heart, around us
We see the cattle die
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the rainbow gold,
For flood and fire and famine
She pays us back threefold.
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze …

An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand
though Earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.

**

Dorothea Mackeller
Happy Australia Day!

Reflection on Mark 1:21-28

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Passage: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+1.21-28

Scripture

Everyone was amazed at his teaching. He taught with authority and not like the teachers of the Law of Moses.

Observation

Jesus goes into the synagogue in Capernaum and teaches with great authority. A demonised man comes in and calls out, “Jesus of Nazareth, what do you want with us? You are God’s Holy One.”

Jesus commands the spirit to leave the man, which it does. Everyone is amazed at this authority. News of Jesus spreads throughout Galilee.

Application

Jesus taught and ministered with authority. His authority came from His relationship with the Father.

There are many bible teachers who know lots abut the Scriptures- the languages, the history, the authors, how different parts fit together. But these people can lack authority because they have not lived in the presence of the Lord.

Every pastor, indeed every christian, should have such a close relationship with the Father that their words and actions carry His authority, His grace, His power.

Jesus cast out demons and performed many miracles because of His relationship with the Father. We can do the same things that Jesus did, even “greater things” (John 14:12) because it is the Holy Spirit in us not us by ourselves.

The key is intimacy with God. We need the presence of God. This can only come through vibrant prayer and listening, together with regular reading of the Bible.

Prayer

Come and fill me with your Spirit, Lord. Teach me how to walk close to you so that I carry your authority and your grace. Amen.

Church is Framily

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Photo by Larm Rmah on Unsplash

At the start of each year various groups propose the “Word of the Year”. The winner in Australia was a bit of an abstruse term, “milkshake duck”, which you will have to look up for yourself if you are interested.

A word that was mentioned a bit also was framily. Framily is a group of friends who become close and know each other like a family- or at least a more ideal version of family than is the reality for many people.

What a great word to describe the church! Most of us are not related biologically but we choose to do life together.

Churches have common goals and a central focus- that’s a framily.

We care for one another and help each other- that’s a framily

We like to hang out together- that’s a framily.

Maybe the idea of family carried too much baggage for some people to relate to. But we can all be framily together.

And that other church across town, maybe we can be framily with them too.

And those people who are a bit weird and live in that part of town might like to be framily with us and Jesus. Maybe we could invite them to join the party.

Framily- what a great word!

Reflection on 1 Corinthians 8:1-13

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Passage: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+8.1-13

Scripture

Many things in heaven and on earth are called gods and lords, but none of them really are gods or lords.

Observation

Paul answers a question that had been raised by the Corinthians themselves, that is, is it right for christians to eat food which had been offered or dedicated to idols?

Paul says that even though the food is offered to idols we know that the gods and lords they represent are not really gods at all. We know that there is only one God the Father and Creator of all things. So these idols are nothing to Him.

But some people have grown up believing in these gods. To see christians eating meat that has been offered to false gods might cause to stumble such a person whose faith in Christ is weak. For the sake of these people it would be better not to eat meat in their presence.

Application

Paul’s approach to this issue is very pragmatic. We know that in Christ, God has given us all things. We know that other “gods” are false gods. Therefore we have nothing to fear from eating meat offered to imaginary deities.

This is not to deny that demonic forces can hold people who worship these gods in spiritual bondage.

In Christ we are “more than conquerors.” If any demon attaches itself to the food that we eat, then our praying over our food in the name of the Lord cleanses that which might be unclean.

People sometimes worry about artefacts bought in developing countries. Unless they are idols, or you get a revelation that there is a spirit associated with the item, then they are usually harmless.

Christians should avoid idols and other items intended to be worshipped. To bring such items into our homes is to honour the demonic spirit behind it.

In all things we should remember that Christ is greater than all so-called gods. We are to live in joy and freedom and not in fear.

Prayer

Lord, help me to walk in victory over all false gods and demons in this world. May I always live in joy and freedom not in fear and bondage. Amen.

Jo Nova: “Free Energy” Costs Too Much

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Jo Nova writes:

The Mystery: The most resource rich nation on Earth has the highest electricity prices?!

Ask anyone and get confused: It’s poles and wires, gaming of the system by capitalist pigs, excessive taxes, privatization, and record gas prices. The CleanEnergy Council  tells us that Australia has one of the longest electricity networks in the world — we need lots of poles! And so we do. But once upon a time Australia had the cheapest electricity in the world and we still had lots of poles. Not only were miles of poles and wires, there were also capitalist pigs, excessive taxes, and privatized generators. There were wild gas price spikes too, (during which we probably just burned more coal).

Evidently, something else has changed. Something seismic that wiped out all the bids below $50/MWh. 

Perhaps it has something to do with the 2,106 turbines in 79 wind farms that on random windy days might make 4,325MW that didn’t exist in Australia in 1999 when electricity was cheap and our total national wind power was 2.3 megawatts?

Another clue might be the 1.8 million new solar PV installations, which theoretically generate 7 gigawatts of electricity at noon on cloudless days if all the panels have been cleaned. Back in 2007, we had 14MW.

But of course, cause and effect are devilishly difficult. The one thing we know for sure is that even though sunlight and moving air is free, there is no country on Earth with lots of solar and wind power and cheap electricity.

Any day now, renewables are going to make electricity cheap, but when that happens, it’ll be a world first.

See the graph: the more renewables we have the more we pay…

Cost of electricity, countries, graph, renewables capacity.

….

Source: Paul Homewood at NotalotofpeopleKnowthat inspired graphs by Johnathon Drake, and Willis Eschenbach, and Dave Rutledge, similar to this one. This particular graph came via Judith Sloan in The Australian, though I can’t seem to find the exact link.

 We’re high achievers price-wise

Australia is far above the trend-line.  Our electricity is even more expensive than it should be for the amount of renewables we have. At a guess this might be because other nations have more “hydro” in their renewable mix and less wind and solar.  Or they have access to nuclear power (like all the EU countries). It may be made worse by the way our energy markets are managed, the profusion of bureaucracies, the subsidies and rebates, the renewable energy target, or the overlapping state and federal green aims. It also may be that in our smaller market we have a few big players gaming a volatile, complicated market. Stability may cost more here, due to the fragility of our network.

Don’t blame wind and solar… oh, wait

To isolate the effect, this graph from Euan Mearns takes out the “hydropower” and biomass aspect and just looks at wind and solar. Spot the trend:

(Note that “Aust” means Austria, not Australia)

Europe, renewables, countries, cost of electricity, graph.

Figure 1 The Y-axis shows residential electricity prices for the second half of 2014 from Eurostat. The X-axis installed wind + solar capacity for 2014 as reported in the 2015 BP statistical review normalised to W per capita using population data for 2014 as reported by the UN.

As Euarn Mearns says, there’s more than one variable at work here, but the inescapable conclusion is the countries with the highest levels of renewables pay the highest prices.    h/t Don B.

Is that another 10 cent price rise coming?

According to wikipedia our wind power capacity is set rise 250% or something crazy (I’m skeptical):

From wiki wind power in Australia–  As of May 2017 a further 12328 MW of capacity was proposed or committed.[2] “AEMO Planning and Forecasting – General Information Page”. Retrieved 7 June 2017.

For a population of 24 million that means we would add another 500 watts/capita. Eyeballing the trendline in the graph,  prices would rise by another 10c/KWhr. (Don’t try to unpack the x and y units exactly and calculate it. That’s another story.)

Say it again: there is no country on Earth with lots of solar and wind power and cheap electricity.

REFERENCES

Moran, Alan (2017) The Finkel Report’s Recommendations on the Future Security of the National Electricity Market:
Impacts on the Australian Economy and Australian Consumers, Regulation Economics.

Reflection on Deuteronomy 18:14-22

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Passage: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+18.14-22

Scripture

“You will know, because if the Lord says something will happen, it will happen. And if it doesn’t, you will know that the prophet was falsely claiming to speak for the Lord. Don’t be afraid of any prophet whose message doesn’t come from the Lord.”

Observation

Moses is addressing the people of Israel. He tells them that they are entering a land where the people practise magic and witchcraft. But they are not to do these things. Instead the Lord will give them a prophet just like Moses.

God’s prophet will speak the Lord’s message, and anyone who disobeys this message will answer to the Lord.

A prophet who falsely claims to speak for the Lord, or a prophet who speaks on behalf of another god, must be put to death. The Lord will validate His prophets by ensuring that what they predict will come to pass.

Application

The ministry of prophet is misunderstood by the church today as much as it was by Israel in the past.

There are many so-called prophets who are not prophets at all and do not speak for the Lord. We know this because they make predictions that do not come to pass. The Lord says we should not “fear” them. That is, we should not pay attention to their words or recognise their self-appointed role as prophets.

Where people claim to be speaking for the Lord, whether as prophets, preachers or teachers, we must exercise the spiritual gift of discernment of spirits. We should ask, “Is this person speaking by demonic spirits, by human thought or by the Holy Spirit?”

The enemy seeks to devour the people of God, and one of the key ways of doing this is to use false authority to lead people astray.

This is not to say that we should abandon all prophecy. The existence of false prophets implies the existence of true prophets. These are the humble, faithful speakers of God’s word. They hear God and speak it out to the church.

Prayer

Holy Spirit, let my heart and mind be truly open to you. If I am speaking may I only speak your words. If I am hearing may I discern when it is you speaking through them. In all prophetic experience may your name be glorified. Amen.

Always Looking Out.

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I have had some thoughts today about what the church should be. It was sparked by some friends saying of other members of their church that they just want it to be a safe and comfortable place for their children and now their grandchildren.

The church is meant to be a place of equipping, training and maturing so that those who are christians are able to go out and share the Good News of Jesus with their neighbours. Church, in that sense, isn’t only a place to be comfortable. Sometimes we need to offer healing and emotional care, but that is a part of a much larger process of equipping people to know the love of God in order to share that love with others.

This afternoon I saw a police car, two ambulances, a fire truck and the Volunteer Rescue Association truck all flying out of town with sirens blaring. Clearly some kind of terrible incident has occurred that has summoned these people out of the comfort of their buildings at the peak of a hot and dry day.

They would be no use to anyone if these people stayed in their facilities, training and practising for an incident but never attended the real accidents taking place around them.

Imagine a hospital operating at peak efficiency but never admitting patients.

The church can be like this- is often like this. We choose a congregation on the basis of the nice preaching, the children’s ministry, the music. We listen to endless exhortations on sharing our faith, attend workshops on healing or supernatural ministry. But we never put those things into practice in our daily life.

It’s not the beauty of our worship services or the authenticity of our cell groups that matters.

It’s about taking the Christ we worship on Sunday and letting Him into our lives on Monday to allow Him to heal and redeem the broken people in our neighbourhood.

Here is a question for you (well, two questions really). What was last Sunday’s sermon about? What are you going to do this week to put it into practice?

If we just did that each week the world would be a much better place for having experienced God’s people doing God’s work in the power of God’s Spirit.

 

Australia Day- The Latest Target Of Haters

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It’s funny how Australia Day has become THE litmus test for political correctness. The leftist SJW’s insist that all indigenous people are offended by the date and it must change. The rightist patriots are saying it’s a sacred date that must never change.
Twenty years ago we didn’t even have the public holiday on the day- just on the nearest Monday. Now it’s a fight to the death.
Growing up, it was the last fling of summer before school went back and life got busy. We went to the beach sometimes, we had a barbecue sometimes. Most people were vague about what it was about- pretty much the same as it is today.
Stop being offended by a date one way or the other. Maybe the solution is just to go back to the old way. Make it the 4th Monday of January.
Instead of the perpetual offence-taking let’s celebrate the contributions that indigenous people, British settlers and more recent immigrants have made to making this nation such a wonderful place. Let’s face up to our history with all its good and bad points, admit the massacres and racism and decide to move forward in a better way together.
For one day, let the politicians and professional activist/ offence takers be locked up in a cupboard somewhere and let ordinary people talk to each other about what life is really like.
We can do this, because for every noisy, whiney opportunistic outrage-maker, there are a hundred people who just accept people for who they are, want to give each other a fair go and get on together. That’s who we are and that’s why Australia is worth celebrating.